Ann (London) Scott, 1929-1975

Professor, poet, author, and women's rights activist Ann (London) Scott was born in Seattle, Wash., on July 29, 1929, the daughter of Claire C. and Dan London. Her father was later manager and senior vice-president of the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Educated at the Dominican Convent in San Rafael, Calif., ALS attended Stanford University and graduated in English from the University of Washington in Seattle (B.A. 1952, Ph.D. 1970). While in Seattle, ALS was an editor of Poetry Northwest . Married first to Paul Tufts and divorced in 1954, she then married Gerd Stern. They had one son, Jared Daniel, and were divorced in 1962.

From 1965 to 1972 ALS taught English literature and composition at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Her poems were published in Choice, Sage, Modern Poetry Studies, and other magazines. In 1965 she married Thomas J. Scott, later dean of the graduate division of the Maryland Institute College of Art.

One of the founders of the Buffalo chapter of the National Organization for Women (1969), ALS was elected to NOW's national board at its first national convention, held in Chicago in 1970. In 1971 she became vice-president for legislation and was responsible for much of the lobbying aimed at ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. She was the author of "The Half-Eaten Apple," a 1970 report on sex discrimination at the University of Buffalo and at universities in general; "Business and Industry Discrimination Kit" (1971, with Lucy Komisar), and "And Justice for All," a pamphlet criticizing the lack of enforcement of federal antidiscrimination laws. Beginning in 1972 she devoted herself to NOW and to Common Cause, serving on both boards of directors, and to the American Association for Higher Education, where she was associate director. ALS died of cancer in Baltimore, Md., on February 17, 1975.

From the guide to the Papers, 1932?-1976, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)